


Three Things That Never Happened

by attaccabottoni



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Also everyone except Vergil would rightly be scared shitless of Villain Dante, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternatively 3 AUs of Vergil Nero and Dante doing needlessly depressing things, Anyway I’ll keep yelling about how important Nero is, Gen, I’m sorry I was sick when I posted the first AU prematurely, Needlessly Depressing Things™️ sounds like a brand that I hope isn’t mine, Which says a lot of about Vergil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/attaccabottoni/pseuds/attaccabottoni
Summary: “You’ve wasted your love on me for far too long, Dante."
Comments: 7
Kudos: 52





	1. The goodbye is the hardest part

**Author's Note:**

> Starting 2021 right with 3 separate AUs, no plot, only suffering.
> 
> Also, nineteen is too young for Vergil to make the drastic decision of permanent relocation but of course he has to be an overachiever. (This was really hard to write so I let off steam by making dumb jokes about my favorite character.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if eight year old Vergil had run faster?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine Vergil being the opposite of unloving, but that actually makes everything worse.

Dante could barely contain his glee as they spoke “Jackpot,” in complete unison.

A glance to the side showed the sharp half smile curving up on Vergil’s face, his closest approximation to satisfaction, as his eyes retained that burning coldness he had during battle.

Fighting Arkham was tricky. Though they had the reluctant help from that plucky lady who shot him in the head when they first met, the high level demons were nothing compared to the slippery tactics of the Jester. Having Vergil beside him, suffering through the grating sound of the clown’s voice as he did, lessened the irritation that could have distracted him. In the end, the sons of Sparda prevailed against that inhuman monster, bringing them one step closer to their goal.

After they lost their mother, Vergil had stopped fighting with him over anything. Instead, he led them both to secure locations where they can rest and guard against an ambush, or somewhere in the open that they can let loose against a horde attack without worrying about human collateral damage.

Since then, beyond sparring with him to hone their skills, Dante didn’t have the heart to provoke Vergil into a serious fight while handling real weapons instead of practice swords. Besides, he had plenty of his fill in fun by testing his strength against all the demons that were sent after them.

But they’ve had to retreat plenty of times in their younger years, and for all the fun from battle during the day, Dante would sometimes wake up from night terrors frozen and angrily weeping, that Vergil had to crawl in bed with him to calm him down.

Now that they’re older, as long as they had each other’s backs, they’ve proven that they were unbeatable.

  
  


* * *

  
  


He had an inkling of what was about to happen, as she motioned to pull him in the cabinet. But he refused to accept doing anything, even hiding, without his twin. So he swallowed down the panic blocking sound coming from his throat and shouted, “But Vergil is still out there!”

His mother’s eyes flashed in determination, brighter and more fiery than the flames threatening them from all sides. She placed a loving hand on his cheek, told him in a low voice to hush and not to leave no matter what happens, before quickly closing the doors on him.

Dante placed a hand on the slats as he watched his mother rush out to the foyer calling out for Vergil, wishing he could do the same from inside the cabinet. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


They had often taken turns being on watch while the other slept. When they had lucked out in getting to places where they didn’t need to be on high alert, Vergil could be counted on to wake up before Dante. He had also caught his twin many times slipping out deep into the night to obsessively train with the Yamato. On the rare occasion that Dante had managed to rise with the sun, he would see his brother still in bed but poring over demonic texts, that he seriously doubted that Vergil had slept through the night.

This seemingly endless war would be over after defeating Mundus. Then they could finally put this behind them, and move forward to somewhere not even their father’s tall shadow could reach.

His brother could read all the fancy books he wanted. Pick up the violin again. And maybe one day, Vergil’s happy smile would return at last.

The future held so much wonder, he could hardly wait.

Just before Dante could open his mouth to say anything, Vergil turned around and ran Force Edge through his chest.

  
  


* * *

  
  


When he heard Vergil yell for their mother from a distance, he crashed without thinking through the cabinet doors and ran out to the foyer. In his rush to reach his family, he did not heed the noise his boots made. But the sight that greeted him compressed all sound, including the loud crackling of the fire around them, into a high-pitched whistling in his ears.

His brother and his mother had their arms around each other’s shoulders, and the demons surrounding them were stabbing swords through their bodies. All he needed to focus on was their mother’s mouth moving, and Vergil’ eyes widening, for him to know that they found each other before they were attacked, and that Dante was helpless to either of them before they collapsed on the floor.

Despite this, his legs hadn’t stopped moving. In his next breath, Rebellion was summoned, and swung it through the nearest demon’s torso. Molten rage took over his small body as he kept swinging, unheeding of the danger as he weaved through enemy after enemy.

He didn’t realize he had been screaming at all, until he felt a hand grab him by the collar, yanking hard enough to finally feel the inside of his throat hurting from the abuse of his voice. He had hardly blinked until he got away from the smoke, and started to inhale the smell of the night air. His gaze refocused on their house from afar, where Vergil had dragged them to a stop.

They stood and watched their mother’s final resting place burn, when Dante thought to peer at his brother. His shirt was in tatters, yet he was strong enough to hold the weight of Yamato with one hand, straight-backed and still like he hadn’t received any injuries. Vergil’s face was wet with blood, their mother’s and his own, but it was seeing the forlorn look in his eyes that made the feeling of grief slam into his whole body. Rebellion clanged as it fell on the ground. When Vergil noticed he was shaking and took his hand, Dante wailed over the roaring of the inferno before them.

After what felt like an eternity, Dante was reduced to hiccups from sobbing. Vergil nudged him to pick up Rebellion and banish it, told him to save his energy and get ready to summon it quickly, before they started running hand in hand.

He knew Vergil thought of him as a spoiled little brother, but in the haze of the days that followed, Vergil never told him not to cry. Dante figured it was because Vergil let him cry for the both of them. So he shed tears over the absence of their mother, and over his regret in having failed to protect her.

  
  


* * *

  
  


His nerveless hand dropped Rebellion as he fell backwards in shock more than anything.

Vergil stepped away to pick up his half of the amulet from where it fell, and stared into it like it held all the answers to his questions. “My sincerest apology, brother. I knew it had to come to this, once I learned that the Perfect Amulet opens the door to the Demon World. In order to close the seal from this side of the Demon World, you have to take Force Edge back with you to the Human World, while I take the other half of the key with me. That way, no one else can open it ever again. And no demon would ever stand a chance against you.”

He had received wounds more grievous than this impalement. It was as if all the power he gained, including their father’s god-like power, was useless to protect him from Vergil’s words, like his twin was reciting a spell that kept him immobile as it tore at his soul.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about that day. Back then, I was the one who ran away from home before the demons attacked. Because Mother tried to save me, she was taken from you. You killed to avenge her, though you weren’t to be blamed for any of it.”

Vergil had always been the faster one between them. If their mother hadn’t felt the need to hide her slower son first, then maybe they could have escaped the attack. But there was no changing the past. Yet it seemed Vergil was not willing to abandon it and let it die. If he were, then he wouldn’t be so willing to abandon Dante like he was about to do so now.

“Mother was a good person. She deserved to be happy and live a long life. But I was selfish and wanted to be protected. If I had died instead, she might still be alive.” That was when Vergil looked away from his amulet to look down at Dante. “It’s only thanks to you that we’ve come this far. I’ve done nothing but impose my guilt on you, and dodge responsibility. So every night since, I’ve been asking myself, how can I make up for it?”

Dante activated Devil Trigger and staggered to his feet. Vergil picked up Rebellion and swept his legs from under him with the flat of the blade, then stabbed through his right hand to pin it to the ground. Dante tried to pull off Force Edge from his chest with his free hand, but his fingers kept slipping.

“I can’t give her back, but I can make sure to end Mundus. I couldn’t save her, but at least one of us will be saved. Not one more day will this bloody fate hang over us any longer, I swear it.”

He felt like the world was caving in about his ears. All the while, he thought he and Vergil wanted the same thing. That assumption made him too incurious to ask what was going on inside his brother's head. They both had spent too long planning their vengeance, only to have brought themselves into nothing but death.

“Hate me for hurting you, if you want. If it makes it easier that way, then forget everything, and start a new life. A new beginning.”

Dante could barely get any air past the blood pouring out his mouth, but the same rebellious nature that made him yell his last words to his mother, had him choking in his desperation to beg for the first time in his life.

“You’re... the only one… I have left… please—”

_ Don’t leave me alone! _

The edges of Vergil’s lips bent upwards, as if he heard the rest of Dante’s unspoken sentence.

“You should get back to that girl. She didn’t deserve to be involved in this, something both of you have in common. You will always be loved wherever you go. But you barely see other people. You should be carefree, instead I’ve dragged you down with me. It’s time we ended this.”

His twin didn’t understand. Dante was only stronger because Vergil was with him, because they faced everything together. If he were alone, there would be no other reason for him to fight. He would only fight for the sake of fighting, and would have nothing to hold in his hands but his pure hatred for the demons that took their mother’s life.

Struggling for one last burst of energy to the point that he was biting back a scream, his blurred vision tracked Vergil walking backwards to the end of the cliff.

“You’ve wasted your love on me for far too long, Dante. All I’ve done for you is hold you back. Go be your own man. Live your life. It’s what Mother and Father would have wanted.”

Vergil didn’t take his sight from him the whole time, as he took the last step and gently fell over the edge without a sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since these self-contained AUs are a bit complicated, just this once, I’ll explain my abrupt endings.
> 
> In this AU, as they’ve been taking care of each other, Dante had assumed that Vergil would never hurt him. So out of a misguided sense of protectiveness, Vergil demonstrates how having this assumption was a weakness, thinking he is doing Dante a favor, and to redeem himself for the crime of having been loved by their mother enough that it killed her, and leaves so Dante’s love for him would not to be the cause of Dante’s death as well. (He’s wrong, but it gives him a sense of control.)


	2. The (poison) apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Nero had known who his father was?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a stab at the “Nero grows up with Vergil” concept, which actually makes everything worse.

Dante lost no time in getting to Red Grave as soon as he heard the news of a demonic tree ravaging the city. Lightless days of nothing but the sense that his twin was mostly where Dante was not, made him intuitively know and don’t know what he was about to find.

When he reached the place that the eerie red light led him to, Vergil didn’t disappoint.

The rags he wore barely covered the deep black cracks on his skin. He looked like a broken doll left on a dark throne, eyes closed while waiting to be pulled up in order to stand.

Dante gazed upon the face that shouldn’t be his enemy. Yet the bloody fate of their family was undeniable.

“Mother tried to save you, you know. Kept searching and searching until it killed her. And the people in this city had nothing to do with her death. What did they all die for, huh?”

Only silence greeted him.

“Vergil!”

“He can’t hear you.” The shadow behind the throne moved into the light, revealing a winged demon with long white hair, Yamato held in his left hand. “His body is breaking down, that the pain had him retreating into the safety of his own mind.”

Dante drew Rebellion from his back. “Who are you?”

Eyes as gold as the sun, and just as pitiless, glowed with threat. “I’m his son.”

His breath caught in his throat. “Nero?”

The ethereal manifestation of his power surrounded his form in a familiar shade of blue, and his Devil Trigger form released to reveal the young man with hair shorter than when they last met, the more visible angles of his face revealing his obvious resemblance to his twin. “If you wanna be angry, be angry at me. I watched over the Qliphoth as it grew and sucked those people dry.”

“You look—”

“—different? I can finally use the power that my father gave me.” He turned to the unconscious figure on the throne. “Dante didn’t tell me that we were related, by the way. Do you think we embarrass him? I didn’t think it was possible.”

“You knew who Vergil was this whole time?”

Nero tilted his head towards Dante. “I don’t know how it happened, but I wasn’t born in the human world. Vergil took care of me and protected me while he was serving Mundus as Nelo Angelo. When I was big enough to fight, he took me with him and went on the run, until he saw a gateway opening to Fortuna small enough to slip me through, leaving himself behind. I went in the Order and fought to become stronger. By the time you arrived, Yamato was restored, and because you left it with me, I was able to train myself with its use, so I could find Father again. But I was too late." Once again, he spoke over his shoulder to address Vergil. "I'm sorry it took me a while. Would you still recognize me when you wake up?”

“But how were you able to return to search for him?”

“The Hell Gate at Fortuna weakened the barrier between worlds. So the moment I could do it, I poured out my power into Yamato and broke into Hell from your old house, where the barrier was the weakest. Eventually Yamato led me to him, and the next thing I knew, the Qliphoth burst through the Human World.”

Dante shook his head. “What were you thinking, reviving him this way? Your grandmother was human. All those lives—”

“I don’t care. Grandmother knew what she was doing, when she gave up her life. So did I, in allowing demons to spill out here, so I could get to Father. He has been in Hell for as long as I knew him. Gnawed on his own bones to give me a chance at knowing something other than the horror I grew up in. His body might be here, but he still hasn’t left.” His stubborn face was softened with sympathy. “I can’t do anything for the dead. But there’s no one I would not sacrifice, if that’s what it takes to bring Father back.”

The first time Dante saw Nero, he couldn’t put a name to the feeling, like the world felt differently than it did a few moments ago, though nothing had changed but his knowledge of Nero’s existence. What he felt now was the exact opposite of that. “I won’t let you do this.”

“You weren’t there when he did everything in his power to protect me, when he should have been using that power for himself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him free from pain.” Nero placed his free hand on one of the roots connected to the throne. “This should make sure that nothing will ever hurt him again.”

The sight of the implacable passion identical to what his twin would wear on his face made grief and misery explode in his chest, that Dante had to glance down to check if he wasn’t bleeding from his front. Once again, he was useless for anything except killing. No matter what he did, it will always end with him empty-handed and alone. He was sick at heart from the weight of inevitability, that he had no more words left to say. 

Nero released Yamato into the air, where it crystallized and hovered in front of Vergil like a shield. Then he took Red Queen from his back, and stabbed it on the ground, his hand on the hilt readying to rev it. 

“I will give the fruit of the Qliphoth to Father. And I’ll do it over your dead body if I have to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The image of adult Nero finding post-Nelo Angelo Vergil in Hell just won’t leave my brain alone. In this AU where Nero sides with Vergil, Dante may just have to kill them both. (My cowardice prevents me from writing Dante and Nero fighting to the death.) Maybe everyone dodged a bullet in canon when Nero didn’t grow up with Vergil, because imagine if Vergil were to hone Nero’s brutality. Not only would Nero enjoy dealing pain, he’d be efficient at it.


	3. The anger of my anger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Dante was the antagonist of the story?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this AU, the idea is that, after his post-DMC 2 sojourn to Hell for something to kill or might kill him, Dante came back evil, but no one noticed. Nero’s perception of him in the beginning of DMC 4 as a nefarious killer was secretly true, and it goes unsaid, actually makes everything worse.

Vergil had just picked up his book when he heard Dante say, “Ya got some pretty big cojones for comin' back.”

He had a passing thought to marvel at his brother’s vulgar words, frivolous as he was with everything else that it seemed entirely unnecessary, when Dante continued, “Just don’t know when to give up,” and charged at him with his new sword. There was no need to unsheathe Yamato to block, but their exchange of strikes had Dante taking the sheath anyway to throw it back at him. The use of momentum to power his counter went to show that Dante didn’t have the strength for an all-out battle after having just ended one. When Nero made a slight movement in his direction, Dante yelled before rushing at Vergil again, trying to draw his attention. That was when Vergil chose to indulge him.

“Defeating you like this has no meaning.”

“Come on, Vergil.” Sparks flew from the clashing blades of their swords. “Let’s do this.”

Between Dante’s condition and obvious approaches in creating a distraction, Vergil barely held himself back from sneering. “You ought to be worrying about yourself more, if your pathetic attempts at protecting Nero should give you any indication.”

Dante turned still, and teleported back to the direction he came from, that Vergil almost stumbled forward from the sudden lack of force opposing him.

Vergil was nonplussed by that odd reaction. Did he somehow make Dante offended on Nero’s behalf at a time like this?

Dante gave him a half-smile. “That may be true, but here’s something that might interest you.”

Nero gave a surprised yelp when Dante grabbed him by the hood of his coat and knocked him out with an almost gentle blow to the back of his head. From afar, Vergil glimpsed the wide ocean blue of his eyes before they slipped closed.

Dante hung his sword on his back, then pointed at the young man he took to carry on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Nero is your son. Ah, did I jog your memory? Turns out that’s what you and our old man have in common, the hidden soft spot for the ladies.”

Vergil stared. He sharpened his entire existence to be useful to himself in the face of death and desolation, and excised the unneeded part of him that would have given everything to come back to the happiness of a family and a home whole and complete once again. Having a son meant the upending of that life into something that meant more than survival, and he has no idea what to do with that knowledge.

The more pressing matter was the shadow over Dante’s demeanor.

Flashy and raucous was what brought to mind whenever Dante was involved. Unobtrusive and subdued was what was on display before him. It wasn’t only the years spent apart and this whole business with the Qliphoth that stood between them. It was as if Dante faded from view, and in his place stood some unknown person that Vergil didn’t know how to reckon with apart from the sense of threat emanating from him.

His once-empty heart seized in his chest at the thought of Dante having changed so much on account of Vergil somehow hurting him.

“It must be tough for you, handling everything on your own. Still, your son managed to survive without you. Do you think he would be proud of having a father like you?”

This bid to provoke him rallied Vergil’s wits from his stupor. “My son means nothing to me.”

“Then I’m sure you won’t mind if I do this.”

Dante disappeared in a flash of red, reappearing to seize Vergil’s hand holding Yamato, and lifted Nero’s unconscious body by the hair. The blade’s edge glinted as it met the skin on Nero’s neck. 

“Shall we do it together?” Dante cajoled sweetly.

Vergil’s body, used to chasing after power, moved by instinct he didn’t know he had. Spinning to yank both his hand and Nero away from Dante’s grip had the effect of goring himself with his own sword, but it got both of them away from Dante’s range.

He lived to prove that the faith that his father had for him when he gave Yamato to his keeping was not misplaced. He should pass on this same faith to his son, who should prove worthy to wield it by carving a future for himself.

Beyond that, he couldn’t think past the terror of instantaneously having given his opponent so many openings to attack.

“Wrecking this whole city was pretty easy, wasn’t it? So destroying our family shouldn’t seem like all that much for you. What changed your mind?”

Vergil ignored the facetious questions. He knew he had just committed the gravest mistake he could make in front of an enemy, revealing the weakness that could be used against him.

Dante snorted, pulled his new sword from his back, thrust the end on the ground between them to lean his weight on it in a casual pose, like they were having a relaxing chat over drinks. “Fine, keep your secrets. I’m sure you just don’t want to give me the satisfaction of gaining any power over your choices.”

Gone were the days when he held the illusion that if he were powerful enough, or heartless enough, or fast enough, then nothing, not even fear nor death, could touch him. Being V taught him just how vulnerable he really was, and how much he needed help.

He hasn’t even thanked Nero yet.

Nero was out cold, and it seemed that it might be a while before he would wake. His mind raced for a way to rush Nero to safety so he could bring down Dante. But even with all the power from the Qliphoth fruit, he felt trapped as sure as the chains from being Nelo Angelo had held him.

The first thing he could think of was activating his Devil Trigger and running Dante down, then cutting through space to bring Nero somewhere defensible before Dante could give chase. He quickly dismissed that option. If Dante put his mind to it, then there would be no place safe for Nero anywhere.

And if he chose to stand his ground and fight, should Dante’s freestyle combat target them both at once, his current abilities could ensure adequate defense for only one of them. 

Killing Dante never crossed his mind. All he could do was keep Nero close.

“There’s still time.” In so taking the pains to appear innocuous, Dante put himself in contention with the way he loomed over both of them on the ground. “You can still love him. Tell him everything will be alright. Feel what you were meant to feel as a father. I don’t even need to take him away. If he’s anything like you, he’ll end up getting killed to save you. Then, you'll have no one left to protect. Nobody but yourself.”

Vergil had long accepted their inescapable bloody fate, what it meant to keep fighting to stay alive and win. Having abandoned all that he ever had, even his humanity, he had to keep paying the price, because it would never be enough.

With his white-knuckled grip on Nero in his arms, the measure of what he had paid came rushing back. Like the poetry that he forgot he once responded to until he reclaimed it, he had no means to understand what it was that he left behind. It was only when he recognized he held something he was unwilling to part with, that the devil has come to collect.

“Or we don’t have to wait, and just kill Nero right now. I don’t know if you remember, but in Mallet Island, Mundus sent Trish and Nelo Angelo to hurt me. I got both of you killed instead. I think you’ll agree with me that between us, you’re not the cruel one. So let’s see to it that your son will never know how unqualified you are to protect him.”

His head shot up to look at his twin gazing down at him with a soft expression, belying the sinister strength coiling in the hands resting on the hilt of his sword.

“There’s no need for you to fight me. Here, I’ll support you, do anything you want. Once you’ve got all the power, you won’t need anything, or anyone, anymore. You win.”

None of these words eased the feeling of trepidation. Any other day, he might have made wild stabs at Dante for patronizing him, taken it out of his twin’s flesh for the humiliation and taunting of everything he had worked for to achieve.

If there was ever a place he didn’t wish his actions would bring them to, this would be the answer. Whenever he would judge things and find them wanting, his honor would not exclude himself from the same judgement. Power was Vergil’s one touchstone in life, and Dante had constantly talked down to it like it held no value. Now that Dante was offering it himself, there was no way to make things even between them. Having pulled his brother to his level felt hollow. And nothing will be as it should have been all along.

Vergil clutched at Nero like he was falling, and had to fight to speak through a mouth full of ash. “Why are you doing this?”

“I was never the one you needed to love you. Never was really good at it either.” A boyish grin spread on Dante’s face, making him look decades younger, except for the fathomless anger burning in his eyes. “So if you keep hating me, then you will never have any reason to leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Villain Dante is a complex idea to think about, because even in canon Dante’s primary motivation is so obscured behind his personality. But at his core, he won’t forget Eva’s last words and sacrifice, which is why if Dante were to become a true villain, I think it would be out of bitterness. He probably won’t change much and still be the same fun-loving Dante (which is why I think he is so scary), but underneath that, his anger will make him hold Nero over Vergil’s head to get his way, and take pleasure from Vergil’s misery.
> 
> Feel free to also yell at me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/semperlenity/status/1353282289489199106). ♥️


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